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Polycom expands Microsoft Lync interoperability, debuts CX7000

December 8, 2011 — 11:17am ET | By Jim O'Neill

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Back in July, UC specialist Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) announced it was partnering with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to develop an affordable videoconferencing system, the CX7000 video collaboration solution, that would lower the price of high-end videoconferencing to a range that SMBs and enterprises will find more affordable.

This week, the company announced the general availability of the system and said it also has expanded interoperability with Microsoft Lync to additional Polycom SIP-based wired and wireless voice products.

Polycom's CX7000 is its first room video collaboration solution custom-built for full integration with Lync, a UC platform that unites voice communications, IM and audio, video and Web conferencing. It's also the first solution that Microsoft defines as "optimized for Microsoft Lync."

Polycom also is testing its RealPresence Immersive room systems for Lync interoperability.

The products expand Polycom's strategic relationship with Microsoft by extending its solution portfolio with interoperability for Lync, a move the company says will allow customers to multiply the return on solution investments they've already made, and are planning to make, in video conferencing.

"By directly interoperating with Microsoft Lync across a comprehensive range of HD video and voice solutions, Polycom delivers a true UC experience that enables users to be much more productive and collaborative," said Sue Hayden, ECP of strategic alliances for Polycom.

The move toward interoperability across the range of products will enable users to quickly find each other, launch video and voice calls easily and make sharing content simpler.

Polycom, and other UC and videoconferencing players, have increasingly been working toward interoperability, the largest hurdle to broad adoption of the technology, according to analysts. In October, some of the largest players in the space held a coming out party, of sorts, for a new industry organization, the Open Visual Communications Consortium, during CTIA.

The group's mission is to specify standards, best practices and connectivity agreements, and it said that service providers would be able to deliver a consistent business-to-business video experience that enables enterprise users to place and receive video calls beyond corporate firewalls and across proprietary video platforms as early as mid-2012. Polycom was a founding member of the OVCC.

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